Portrait of Raden Syarif Bustaman Saleh

Around 1840 Raden Saleh, a young artist from Java, was living in Dresden, and this is how he was painted there. The museum attributes the picture to Friedrich Carl Albert Schreuel, the likely author, though nothing on the canvas proves it. Saleh sits half turned towards us in a dark green frock coat, a red waistcoat and a black cravat, dressed as a fashionable European gentleman. A heavy green curtain hangs behind him, tied back with gold cord. He holds a palette, a bunch of brushes and a maulstick, the long stick used to steady the hand. Beside him, in a gilt frame, is a seascape with a sailing ship in rough water. The long name in the title records his family. Raden is a Javanese noble title, while Syarif and Bustaman come from his Arab ancestors, who had reached Java from Hadhramaut in Yemen.